Nation

Cops weed out five ganja growers

Uprooted: Some of the cannabis plants that were seized from the condominium units in Signal Hill, downtown Kota Kinabalu.

KOTA KINABALU: For the past four months, a group thought they had found the perfect place to grow an illegal crop – two plush condominium units at the exclusive Signal Hill area near downtown here.

They had special paraphernalia such as devices to ensure cannabis plants grew faster. But everything was unrooted on Jan 29 when a police narcotics team raided the condominium units and arrested five people including a French woman.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said the narcotics team raided the first condominium unit at about 11.30am and arrested the French woman, in her 30s, and a local 25-year-old man.

He said police recovered 19 cannabis plants growing in pots with one already “harvested”.

About an hour later, the team raided another unit within the same condominium complex and seized five cannabis plants. He said police also recovered about half a kilogramme of processed cannabis placed in three packages.

Comm Hamza said a maid was picked up from the second condominium unit, adding that two men who walked in were also arrested.

He said police were investigating the case under Section 6B of the Dangerous Drugs Act which carries life imprisonment upon conviction as well as Section 39B of the same Act which provides for the mandatory death sentence.

He said initial police investigations showed that the French woman had been in Sabah for about a year.

“From the equipment we seized, this was definitely a professional approach in the way the cannabis plants were cultivated,” he added.